


The Art of (Not) Keeping Secrets

by scribbledmargins



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, Everybody knows, Fluff, M/M, secret relationship (they think)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-01 02:05:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15132683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribbledmargins/pseuds/scribbledmargins
Summary: Five times JT and Tyson thought they were keeping it on the DL, but weren't.





	The Art of (Not) Keeping Secrets

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [wrishwrosh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrishwrosh/pseuds/wrishwrosh) in the [PuckingRare2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/PuckingRare2018) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
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> something goofy and domestic! kidfic? established relationship? anything really?
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> **
> 
> Well this is certainly goofy and domestic. If you're looking for some utter fluff you have come to the right place. I've had this written as back up in case I didn't finish my longer claim which...I didn't, and then the day before posting Nate managed to provide a stellar frame for the whole thing which was thoughtful. Thanks to the mods for organizing this awesome challenge, it was a lot of fun!

 

The sun isn't very strong but it's still lovely and warm out on the lake. Nate is spinning lazily back and forth in the captain's seat, Tyson has a cold beer in his hand, and JT is sleeping stretched out on the bench next to him. If he wanted to, Tyson could reach down and run his fingers through JT's hair, but he's resisting the urge in the name of covert operations. 

The next time Nate leans down to get something out of the cooler he might risk it anyway. 

"Hey." Nate says, pulling Tyson out of his reverie.  

"Hmm?" 

He's looking determined and unexpectedly earnest, but Tyson still isn't prepared to hear him say, "You know you can two can be like, couple-y and stuff around me right? It's not gonna bother me, I'm not an asshole." 

Tyson would like to think that he does a very good job of schooling his face so that it doesn't look like his stomach just dropped straight through the bottom of the boat. 

They've been so careful. 

He forces a chuckle. "What are you talking about?"

Nate stops spinning and looks at him. 

"I'm talking about you and Comph." He looks confused.  "And how you've been dating like...All year pretty much." 

“That’s, um, that’s, why do you…Okay fine yes we are, how did you figure it out?”

Now Nate looks _really_ confused. "What do you mean? I just--" He cuts himself off, eyes going wide. "Wait is it a _secret_?" 

What the fuck. Of course it’s a secret.

"What the fuck, of course it's a secret! I don't know how you knew, but please don’t tell anyone else?" 

"Duh, of course I won't. But I, uh, I think everyone pretty much already knows." 

" _What_?" 

"Well not everyone _everyone,_ but like, a lot of people, I think. I didn't think you were even trying to hide it, bro! You were pretty obvious." 

“We were not!”

“Um, yeah, you _definitely_ were.”

 

 

****

  

**1**

 

Alex was expecting it to be awesome to share a house with three other young guys, especially two other rookies. And it is! It _is_ awesome.   

Except. 

Well. Sometimes there are...noises. Like. Sexy noises. And that's not a big deal, not really, Alex went to college he knows about thin walls and high libidos and seeing your neighbor in the hallway and looking them in the eye and pretending like you haven't heard the noises they make when they come. And all that was just normal college kid stuff, the whole college-aged professional athlete angle has to add appeal, right? Make it even easier to pick up? So it makes sense that with four of them in the house there's going to be some...noises. 

The thing is though, he starts noticing a few weeks in that he's not running into as many girls as he’d expect to be in the mornings? Sure he's seen Chris kissing a couple chicks goodbye, one time even made another one coffee one morning when she stumbled into the kitchen and told him she didn't want to wake Chris up but she was going to be late for class and did he know how to work the coffeemaker? 

It was like he never left the dorms. Well except for the the much fancier coffeemaker. 

Alex has brought girls home too, he's walked in the front door with them, gone right past Chris and Josty playing games in the living room, seen a date slip past Comps in the hallway on the way to the shower. But he hasn't seen any girls coming out of JT's room, _or_ Josty's, and Alex isn't _blind_ okay he knows that girls will almost always go for guys that look like them, especially with the added aura of 'oh shucks' that seems to pour off them sometimes, and he's not deaf either, he has _definitely_ absolutely heard sounds coming out of their rooms that certainly seem to indicate that they've both been picking up. But he doesn't see a single one come in with either of them in the evenings _or_ leave in the mornings.

It’s not a big deal, not really, but part of the point of living togetherer is to build team chemistry and how are they supposed to do that if half the house isn’t comfortable talking about sex with the other half. They’re supposed to be _bonding_. 

So he starts paying attention. It's a mystery and he's going to get the bottom of it. For the sake of the team bond. And a little bit for his own curiosity, but it's _mostly_ in the name of team bonding. 

(He tells Chris about his plans and Chris just rolls his eyes in that way he does when he's feeling particularly above the rest of them and what he's dubbed their 'schoolboy shenanigans,' as though going through major-juniors instead of the NCAA somehow makes him more mature. It doesn't. At all. And Chris will thank him when he solves the mystery and they can all bond over sexual exploits the way God intended.) 

 

At first he thinks maybe they're both picking up girls that they're embarrassed to be seen with? But he rules that out pretty quickly because again, they're both good looking enough to pull the hottest girls around and besides it seems unlikely that _both_ of them would have tastes that run towards the embarrassing end of the spectrum. Then he starts trying to see who they chat up at clubs, just to get some sort of baseline established and immediately gets frustrated because they don't seem to chat up _anyone_ , ever. In fact, they seem to be spending most of their time together. 

("you know you could just ask them about it." Chris tells him when he tries to compare notes. Which. Where is the fun in  _that?)_

Maybe, he thinks, the whole thing makes Tyson uncomfortable, because he's younger and isn't technically supposed to be in the clubs or the bars with them when they aren't in Canada? 

 

Or maybe, he reevaluates one morning, Josty is just kind of a prude?  Chris is regaling them all with details of his latest hookup and how much fun she was, and this crazy thing she did with her tongue, and frankly Alex is feeling a little scarred still from the sounds he'd heard JT making when he made a late night bathroom trip, so he decides, fuck it he's going to try a more direct approach (shut up, Chris) and elbows JT in the side on his way to the fridge and says slyly,

"I walked by your room last night, Comph, sure sounded like _you_ were having fun. Hot date?" 

JT's ears turn red, but he gets this huge shit eating grin and says "yeah man. The _hottest_." 

And it seems like finally they’re gonna get somewhere, but JT doesn’t elaborate any further (suck on that direct approach Chris), and that's when he notices that Tyson is bright red and looking at his bowl of cereal like it contains the answers to all life’s questions. So. Maybe he's not chill with talking about sex? And JT is just…being a good friend? Solidarity and all that. 

 

Unless.

Unless there’s a...different reason for his reaction. Hey, Alex went to Harvard, okay? He's down with dudes getting down dudes, if that's what they're into, but. That's probably not what's happening here. Josty is just...weird about sex, probably. 

Once the thought is in his head though, Alex kind of can't stop noticing things that back it up. Things like: he's never actually heard _girls_ in their rooms. Which isn’t _that_ weird, a lot of girls aren’t super into being loud in a house that has other people in it, and okay it's not like he’s standing at their doors holding a glass up to listen with, but on the occasions that he _does_ happen to pass their doors he doesn’t totally ignore the sounds coming from inside and, well, its only ever _guy_ noises. Or sometimes just bed noises. _Also_ he's pretty sure they're never hooking up at the same time. Sounds are always coming from one room or the other, so either they’re never hooking up at the same time or they’re _only_ hooking up at the same time. Exclusively. 

Plus it’s not just sex things. When they all go out, JT has an arm flung out around the back of Tyson's chair most of the time, or sometimes just around Tyson's shoulders. They're always laughing at shit together like they have all these private jokes or like maybe they're just really fucking happy when they're together. Sometimes one of them will do something sick on the ice and the other one totally lights up like _he's_ the one with cool moves. 

So yeah. There's a pretty compelling picture forming in Alex's head. 

 

That picture is brought into vivid technicolor one night in early December when Alex wakes up feeling thirsty and like he should maybe grab an icepack for a muscle he tweaked in practice, and stumbles half asleep to the kitchen in the dark. And then immediately slams on his internal brakes as soon as soon as he gets there.

He thinks for a second that he's dreaming. That his subconscious is trying to tell him that he's maybe gotten _too_ fixated on his roommates extracurricular activities, and it’s time to rein it in. But no, nope. No, he is _not_ dreaming and his very _awake_ brain is telling him that his sneaking suspicions regarding those activities were dead on _correct_. 

Tyson is backed up against the counter, right by the sink, caged in by JT's arms and they're kissing like there's no tomorrow. They're also both wearing nothing but their underwear. 

While Alex stands there, trying to process, JT moves suddenly, and then Tyson is sitting up on the edge of the sink which _can't_ be comfortable, but the noise he makes as he wraps his legs around JT’s hips suggests that he doesn't care too much. Tyson's hand slips down JT's back and dips under the elastic of his boxers. JT groans. 

Alex should leave. Right now. Go back to his room and stay there until he _dies_. But. He really is thirsty. And he _needs_ to get an icepack, so. His options are limited. 

Oh and now the boxers are coming off, excellent. He _can't_ keep standing around waiting for them to catch him.

He sneaks backwards towards his room--determinedly not thinking about if this is the first time they've gotten busy in the _kitchen_ where they all _eat--_ and then starts the walk from his room over, this time letting his feet hit the floor way louder than he normally would in the middle of the night. Another trick he learned in college. 

This time when he makes it to the kitchen, they're standing a few feet apart looking like two people who were _definitely_ rounding third base on a kitchen counter thirty seconds ago, but they're keeping they're hands to themselves, and everyone's dick is covered  so Alex will take the win. 

He grins at them. ”We having a 2am roomies kitchen meeting? Should I go wake up Chris?" 

“No! Nope. Just, uh, wanted some cereal and then Tyson, well, um, he wanted--" 

"Juice! I wanted some juice." 

Alex is pretty clear on what Tyson wanted and it definitely wasn't juice. He looks pointedly at their empty hands. “Oh yeah? Where is it?"

"Where's what?" Tyson widens his eyes to a degree that shouldn't be possible. He looks like a cartoon animal. A cartoon animal with a hickey at the base of his throat. Jesus. 

"Your juice. His cereal." 

JT leans back against the sink, probably trying to block Alex's view. “In the sink. We were about to go back to bed when you came out here. What, uh, what are you doing up anyway?" 

"Thirsty. Kinda like you Josty. You were pretty thirsty too, eh?"

Tyson makes a strangled noise and doesn't respond. Alex gives them both his best 'I have no idea what you and you're study buddy were just getting up to in the stacks' face, and goes to grab his icepack and a bottle of water. They clearly aren't ready to tell him but it’s cool, no pressure. He could totally be chirping about this but he's not because he's a supportive bro. Instead he just gets his stuff and goes back to bed and pretends like he hears two doors shut instead of just one. 

Hopefully they'll pick up on this supportive vibe he's putting out there.

 

The next morning he's eating breakfast with Chris, before either of their other roommates have emerged, and Chris asks him, kind of cagily, 

“Hey, did I hear you get up last night?" 

Alex frowns at him. “...Yeah? Why?” 

"Was, uh, was anyone else up? I thought I heard..something…in the kitchen before you got up." 

“Uh, yeah, Comph and Josty were both awake too." Relief flashes across Chris’s face face and, 

"Wait! Did you catch them too?"  

Chris lets out a huge breath. " _Yes_! Last _week_ , dude, and I didn't want to say anything to you but like. That's definitely why they don't pick up, huh? I didn't want to, you know, tell their business but I've been waiting for you to figure out, I mean they aren't being that cautious about getting caught, I got home and they were making out on the couch and they didn't even act like they heard me but they must have right? I snuck past them and said I'd been home in my room the whole time but there's no _way_ they bought that."

  

**2**

 

When the FaceTime connection goes through, Laura is met with the sight of three shirts and two pairs of pants laid out on what she recognizes as her son's bed. 

"Mom!" Tyson says from off camera, "Which combination looks best?" 

The truth is none of them are particularly great, but that's due to Tyson being young and left to his own devices more than his issues with color. 

"I'm not sure, honey. Is this for some Avs feature?”

It's not for a game, he knows better than to not wear a suit and she knows that he has roommates to help him pick out his game day outfits, even if she's been called as a tiebreaker a couple times. 

"No, this is for...something else." 

"Tyson?"

She hears him sigh and then the camera flips around to show his face. He looks a little embarrassed when he admits, "It's for a date, mom." 

Oh. Well that certainly changes things. 

"A date?"

He smiles like he can't help it. "Yeah. I'm really excited. We've been seeing each other for a while but we haven't actually like. Gone out on an official date yet. The game schedule makes it kind of hard, you know?" 

"That's wonderful sweetheart." She's happy for her baby but she still has to ask, because the world can be a cruel place and she worries all the time, "And you're being...careful?" 

He looks startled. "You mean, like, condoms?" 

No. No she hadn't. 

"I actually meant with...things being the way they are, you doing what you do. But condoms. Those are important too." 

"Oh okay, sorry, um yeah," He stammers, "Yeah we're being careful. I mean he gets it, he's not out either. And yes," He tacks on quickly. "About the condoms. Um. We use them. So." 

"Okay! Good. To...both. So _date outfits_ , huh?” 

"Yes! Date outfits! Which do you think?" He says, finally looking her in the eye again. 

"I didn't get a good luck, turn me back around?" 

 

They're in the middle of comparing a whole new round of shirts after settling on dark wash jeans when she hears the sound of a door opening, and then another voice.  

"Hey Tys, what have you been doing in here for the last 30 minutes, I thought we were--"

"I'm talking to my mom! FaceTime!" Tyson cuts him off. 

“Oh. _Oh_. Hey Laura!" 

The image on her screen blurs with motion for a moment and then she's looking at JT, leaning against the doorframe. He waves. She smiles and waves back. 

He looks past her then, towards the bed and asks, "Dude, why are _all_ of your shirts on the bed?" 

"I'm trying to decide what to wear." 

"Oh sweet, you want help?" 

Laura tenses, ready to deflect if necessary. She likes JT a lot, he seems like a really sweet kid, at least from what Tyson has told her about him and what she's seen via FaceTime calls that include one or more of Tyson's roommates, but she doesn't know how much he knows about Tyson’s dating preferences, or what it says that Tyson hasn't asked for his help picking out date clothes. 

"Yeah." Tyson says quietly, "But I didn't want you to help with this one."

She's ready to change the subject to anything else, nearly ready to teleport to Denver and give JT a piece of her mind if he's done something to make Tyson want to keep this locked away and private, but then she catches sight of JT's face. He's not framed as well in the camera, Tyson relaxed his arm when he got distracted, but she can still see his face and the expression there is soft and wide open and--

_Oh_. 

She's suddenly viewing the previous conversation, as well as some other things from the last couple months, in a brand new light. 

JT moves further into the room, and then her view drops suddenly back to the pile of clothes on the bed, but this time it's upside down. The sound gets muffled too, like maybe Tyson stuck his thumb over the microphone, but it's not so muffled that she can't make out the words. 

"You'll look great in whatever, you always look good.”

“Oh yeah? You flirting with me, Joseph Taylor?” 

“Always.” 

Then the unmistakable sound of a kiss, followed by retreating footsteps, and suddenly she's looking at the stack of shirts from right side up, and Tyson is saying, 

"Sorry about that, Comps was being nosy." 

She doesn't say anything. He'll tell her when he's ready. He says they're being careful and she believes him. It's riskier in some ways, to be with a teammate but it puts her mind at ease a little to know that the stakes here are exactly the same for both of them, and so is the experience of growing up different in a locker room. 

Surely, she thinks, they are less obvious in front of other people. 

 

**3**

 

Tyson still hasn't completely lived down that time he did party interviews and almost immediately became A Total Disaster. He blames the champagne. And possibly the altitude.  

Anyway, he knows he still holds the crown for being the biggest disaster named Tyson at a team event, but Junior is certainly gunning for the title. 

 

Josty is standing by the buffet table with JT, _way_ too close for buddies and they're feeding each other bites of shrimp cocktail in full view of pretty much the entire team and staff, plus a bunch of high dollar fans. They're probably going to be able to fly under the radar because they're young and goody anyway and Tyson is only too familiar with just how far people will go to avoid connecting the obvious dots in front of them, but still. It's a little outside the range of standard event decorum. 

He can almost hear Nate saying 'are you really the best judge of event decorum?' but he ignores it. Which is what he does with the Nate-voice in his head about fifty percent of the time. 

Gabe materializes out of nowhere at that moment and hands Tyson a glass of champagne. Partially because he's thoughtful but mostly because Gabe's stated mission in life is to get Tyson to call him a stallion on tape again and he thinks that champagne is the way to get there. He's right, but that isn't going to stop Tyson from taking the champagne. 

"Whatcha looking at?" 

"Rookies." 

Gabe follows his eye line to the edge of the room, where Jost is now leaning against the wall and JT is swaying into his space. Tyson is pretty sure he's using his body to try and block the view of them loosely holding hands. It's not working. But on the bright side, it doesn’t look like anyone is actually paying much attention to them, so at least there's that.

Gabe's eyebrows shoot up. “Oh, damn. They really aren't even trying to hide it anymore huh?" 

"Nope. We were never that obvious." 

Gabe grins slyly. “Yeah, _I_ wasn't." 

Tyson can feel his ears turning red. "I wasn't either! Not like _that_."

He _wasn't._

Gabe knocks their shoulders together. "Sure you weren't. Hey, why do you think they haven't at least talked to us about it? I mean, we know they know about us. I've kind of been expecting it but. Unless one of them has talked to you? Worked that same name connection?"

"Nope, not yet. Maybe they don't think they don't need to? That we already know so what's the point I guess?"

Gabe shrugs. "Hmm. Maybe. Should one of us go...startle them or something? Remind them they aren't alone?"

Tyson sighs. "I'll do it." It’s practically his responsibility as the reigning Tyson.

Gabe clinks their glasses together. "Cheers. I'm going to go do some more captain shit, shake hands and stuff. See you at home later?" 

"If you're lucky."

Gabe walks off but not before shooting a huge grin over his shoulder, and winking. And he says _Tyson_ can't play it cool. Nerd. 

 

Speaking of playing it _super_ cool, Tyson begins his mission by working his way around the edge of the buffet table, chatting with other attendees, until he gets close to the lovebirds, who are--thankfully--no longer holding hands, but are definitely still off in their own private world. He takes half a step back and treads ever so gently onto JT's foot. 

“Oh, I'm so sorry--Oh hey boys, how's it going?" 

"Good! Fun party, huh?"

They don't even have the decency to look caught out. Jost is kind of pink but then again he's _always_ kind of pink. Plus it might be from the beer he's technically not supposed to have. 

"Yeah, yeah pretty fun, pretty fun. I'm getting kind of tired though. Might head out soon." 

Josty perks up. "Oh, are we allowed to leave already? We thought we had to stay until the end."

It _was_ strongly suggested that they stay until the end, but they don’t need to know that. Tyson _is_ staying, but they don't need to know that either. 

"No, you can leave now if you're getting bored or…whatever.” 

Tyson's middle name should be 'smooth operator.' 

They exchange a look and then JT says, totally unconvincingly, "Yeah you know what, I think I might go home and crash. Josty you wanna come with?" 

Jost, bless him, actually tries to fake a yawn. Tyson has no idea who they think they're fooling, but if they stay here much longer the list of people they _aren’t_ fooling is going to include a lot of Denver’s upper crust. Which he's pretty sure they don't want. 

"Yeah, I _am_ getting pretty tired now that you mention it. Hey, will you, uh tell Chris and Alex we caught a Lyft home and they don't need to wait for us?" 

"Sure." 

Tyson watches them until they get to the door and disappear, and he can finally relax. Crisis averted. Probably. No one is looking around scandalized so.

 

He finds Chris talking to EJ over near the bar. "Your roomies wanted me to tell you that they don't need a ride home because they cut out early." 

Chris blinks at him, and then says, with no inflection, "Wow Comph and Josty left early to go home by themselves? I'm shocked. I wonder what they're doing." 

EJ snorts into his beer. 

Tyson mentally pours one out for Chris and Alex and the shit he's sure they've seen. 

 

**4**

 

Lauren has the lobby mostly blocked off, the cameras have all been set up, and she’s got the glasses. All that’s missing is their chosen participant, and she’s dispatched someone to grab him from upstairs. Miraculously they’re actually still on schedule so they should have plenty of time to get the footage, barring unforeseen complications.  

Unforeseen complications step off the elevator right behind Tyson, looking unfortunately determined.

She likes JT a lot, honestly, but today she just _knows_ he’s about to fuck with her and her carefully blocked out timeline. 

 

“I want to do the interview part.” 

Oh good, she was right. 

“You what?”

“I want to do the interview thing. With Tyson. Like, ask him the questions and stuff.” 

Lauren looks at Tyson, hoping for the very slim chance that he's not already on board with this alteration. He also looks pretty determined. Damn. 

“I asked him if he’d come with me, because I’m kind of nervous about it? And he said he’d do it with me, if it was okay with you guys?” 

Neither of them look particularly inclined to give up without a fight, which is a good quality for professional athletes and less of a good quality in fluff piece interview subjects. In the long run it will probably be faster to just go over the segment with JT and let him do it, instead of wasting time trying to change their minds first. Besides, Jost _does_ look kind of nervous, and she wants him to be comfortable, and if having his buddy on camera with him is the best way to do that...well. 

“Alright, fine. JT come here and let me go over what you need to ask him while you both get mic'd. And no goofing off okay? We’re on a time table.” 

 

Lauren is very good at her job and more importantly she's not an idiot. She’s not an idiot, and she's spent most of her life around sports teams and she currently spends a _lot_ of time around this team in particular and she knows how to read them, so she picks up on a _lot_. More than they probably would like, in fact. 

She’s had her suspicions about these two for awhile, but by the time they wrap the segment, those suspicions have been upgraded to full blown certainty. 

They spend the entire segment looking at each other. Every time she tries to steer them to something else in the lobby, Tyson inevitably turns right back to stare some more at JT. It would, Lauren thinks, be extremely adorable if it wasn't interfering so much with the planned segment. 

Okay so it's still pretty adorable. Not the point. 

The _point_ is that they have to turn in a nice human interest, ‘get to know the rookie’fluff video to raise player profile, and get the fans to connect with one of the teams rising stars; to create a connection through the carefully controlled world of social media. 

This is...still that, technically. It will definitely still work, there's a great teammates angle here on top of the already great ‘sees colors for the first time’ angle. Tyson and JT have excellent chemistry and working in a 'bromance' never fails to be marketable. The problem certainly won't be with audience reception, as long they get something useable. 

No, no, the problem is that she has all these things for him to look at, and a whole script they're supposed to be following and instead of doing that they're coming together like magnets to get lost in each others eyes.  The problem is going to be if these two twitterpated idiots accidentally out themselves in a hotel lobby in Chicago. The problem is that this is going to be a real bitch to edit if they don't stop _looking at each other like that_. 

She'd honestly thought that once original-flavor-Tyson and Gabe had gotten their shit together her job was going to get easier. The simplest solution might just be to stop doing fluff pieces in hotel lobby's with people named Tyson. At least last time she had _told_ them to be kind of flirtatious (she hadn’t told them to make jokes about their hotel room numbers, but at the end of the day that still came off as a _joke_ ). This? This is not joke flirting. This is going to actually for real become a problem in post. 

They're finally staring to wrap up but they're still shooting each other looks that are clearly meant to be covert, but are _not._

 

“How do I look in them?”

“As good as you can look.”

“So not that good then?”

Yeah okay, that's enough. She calls for them to stop, and tries not to make it too obvious that she's frustrated. It's not like they have the time to do it over, and what would she even say? Act less like you want to jump each other's bones this time? That's their business, however shoddy they are at covering it.

"We really get to keep them?" Tyson asks while he's pulling off his mic.

"Yes, of course you get to keep them! Go nuts."

He looks at JT out of the corner of his eye.

"So are we good here? Can we go?"

She’s got a pretty good idea of what they’re planning on using the glasses for later. 

She’s never been so grateful that she's not the one responsible for cutting raw footage into a polished segment. Whoever has to make sure this will fall under the guise of plausible deniability has a huge job that she does not envy.

She makes a mental note to send the editing team a bottle of something strong. 

“You can go.” 

They bolt for the elevator. 

Lauren deserves a damn raise.

 

**5**

 

Jared has a team to coach, a game five to win, a rapidly escalating goalie situation to worry about. There's way too much going on for him to have room to also worry about why two members of of his rookie line just walked out of the nearest supply closet together.  

He’d turn around and walk the other way, but they have, unfortunately, spotted him.

"Boys." 

"Coach." Says Jost. 

"We were, uh, we were looking for spare tape." Says Compher. 

“Did you find it?” 

“No. We probably should have just asked a trainer, huh?" 

Jared can feel a headache coming on. He pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a breath. ”Yes that _is_ more in line with protocol." 

This is not part of his job. He's learned his lesson about asking questions he isn't sure he wants the answers to, and he’s _definitely_ got more important things to worry about than why Jost might have the start of something like beardburn on his face. 

 

**+1**

 

"Wake up. Hey. JT. Wake up." 

JT wakes up slow. He's on something soft. There's a breeze. Right. Boat.

Tyson is here. He loves it when Tyson is here.

He blinks slowly, and Tyson's face swims into view above him. 

It's been way too long since he woke up to Tyson's face. 

"Hey baby." He murmurs. 

Someone who is definitely _not_ Tyson starts laughing and thats when JT remembers that Nate is also on the boat. 

Shit. 

"Uh, I mean..." 

Tyson shakes his head, "Don't worry about it, apparently Nate already knows." 

"What?" He pushed himself upright and looks over to where Nate, the bastard, is still laughing. "How?" 

Tyson picks up JT's arm, pulls it over his own shoulders and leans in against his chest. JT curls him closer out of habit. 

Nate gestures widely at them, smirking, and--

Huh. 

He can kind of see Nate's point, actually. 

"Why didn't anybody say anything?" 

Nate shrugs. "We thought you were being obvious instead of telling us, I guess? We didn't want to like. Bring it up in case we were wrong."

We?

_“Nate._ Fucking, _tell us_ who knows now that JT’s awake, come on. Is it the whole team?"

"Nah, I don't think so. Gabe knows. Tyson senior. EJ, I think. Probably Mikko. Oh your roommates _definitely_ know. Lauren. Whoever was working the cameras when you did that glasses feature, I bet.” 

JT is reevaluating a lot of close calls. It’s possible that they have _not_ actually been as covert as they thought, and probable that they are in for some very intense chirping as soon as Nate gets cell service back.

"Oh shit." Tyson says suddenly, stiffening against him. "I think coach knows." 

Fuck. He totally does. 

Nate's jaw drops. "What?" 

"We, uh, we ran into him coming out of a supply closet." 

"During the playoffs." JT adds, because at this point why not, right?

"We told him we were looking for tape, but..." 

"Wow." Nate says. "You guys are terrible liars. This is why we all thought you knew we knew, by the way. Because _you're terrible liars_. You're worse liars than Tyson and Gabe, which is _saying something_."

"Whatever," Tyson replies, "We never did this in front of anyone.” 

And then he grabs JT's face and pulls him in for a kiss.

Nate wolf whistles. 

JT flips him off without looking and then sinks into the kiss, because this? The feeling of the sun on his skin and Tyson under his hands? It’s worth all the chirping he knows they have coming, worth the way he’s not going to be able to look coach in the eye for at least a week, worth getting dragged by Lauren more than he already does. 

This is worth everything. 

**Author's Note:**

> [I'm also on tumblr](https://cricketloblaw.tumblr.com/)


End file.
